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January 20, 2009
Children's room a casualty of library cutbacks
The Times of Trenton
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
BY MEIR RINDE
TRENTON -- With its vaulted ceiling, high windows and child-size shelves, the children's room at the city's main library felt like "another world."
"It was the most beautiful room in the building," said Mill Hill resident Eileen Smyth, who would visit with her daughter Vivian, a first-grader.
So she was stunned when she went to the library earlier this month and saw that the room had been shuttered and its books moved into a corner of the library near the entrance.
Smyth and a group of her neighbors said yesterday that they're not happy with the new children's area, and they're upset the library didn't publicize the closure in advance.
"I used to go there weekly with my 4-year-old, and I am really disappointed," Mercer Street resident Angela Capio said. "I hope they considered other options."
In fact, not only the children's room but the teen and computer rooms at the main library were all phased out over the last month because the library system's dire fiscal situation is forcing it to cut staff, director Kimberly Bray said.
The library faced a 10 percent cut in its $3.5 million allocation from the city last year. It only avoided closing its four branch libraries by getting permission from the state librarian to reduce the main library's hours below the required 60 hours a week.
But then it turned out that the other funds controlled by the library board had also shrunk, and the library only had through the end of the fiscal year in June to make up the resulting $1.2 million deficit, Bray said.
"By the time you actually effect the changes that are necessary, we were facing a reduction of nearly 40 percent," she said.
This week the city is laying off more than 50 employees in several departments, and a number of library employees will be among those losing their jobs, Bray said. She didn't have the number yesterday.
As a result, the main library must close some of its rooms, she said.
"Every time you have a separate room, you have to make sure it's secure. You have to have staff in there full-time," she said. "We're not able to afford those staffing levels we had in the past."
The children's room will be closed until funding is restored, Bray said. The collections in the teen room were moved to another part of the library, but the room itself will be available for children's story times and community meetings.
Some old books were weeded out of the children's collection, and some books that were available in multiple copies were moved to the branches, she said. About 15 computers were also redistributed to the branches, which will be a new asset for those libraries, Bray said.
The director said the budget problems have been well-publicized since last summer, though the news of coming service cuts at the main library may have gone unnoticed in the celebration over the preservation of the branches.
She said she regretted the imminent layoffs.
"I don't know if there's a way you can lose these kind of valuable, longtime staff members, and not be sad," Bray said. "It's a sad situation for us, the city and the entire country. These are difficult economic times and we're all feeling it."
Contact reporter Meir Rinde at mrinde@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.
Posted by tumulty at January 20, 2009 11:53 AM
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